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Screening of New Documentary on Alain Resnais' "Last Year at Marienbad" to Benefit NYU's Maison Française

On Thursday, May 20, a benefit event for La Maison Française of New York University will feature a screening of a new documentary about the making of Alain Resnais’Last Year at Marienbad at NYU Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street, at 6:30 p.m. This will be the only New York showing of the film. The screening will be followed by a reception at the Diane von Furstenberg Studio, 440 West 14th Street, from 8:15 to 9:45 p.m. Tickets for the event are $250 ($150 tax deductible). For more information and to purchase an advance ticket, call La Maison Française at 212.998.8750, or email maison.francaise@nyu.edu. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Filmmaker Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad (1961) is a landmark of French New Wave Cinema. Starring Delphine Seyrig and Giorgio Albertazzi, written by Alain Robbe-Grillet, and with costumes by Coco Chanel, the film won the Lion d’Or at the Venice Film Festival and has mesmerized audiences with its surreal depiction of a man and woman, who may or may not be lovers, wandering a gorgeous chateau in Eastern Europe.

Recently, original footage shot by actress Françoise Spira on the set of the movie was discovered in France and has been assembled into a 50-minute documentary about the making of the film. Produced by author Bernard-Henri Lévy along with Jack Lang and Olivier Corpet of France’s IMEC Archive, the documentary features a voice-over by Volker Schlöndorff, Academy award-winning German filmmaker, who was the assistant director of Last Year at Marienbad, and who will present the documentary on May 20.

The benefit event will raise funds for the program of lectures, conferences, symposia, art exhibitions, films, concerts, theater, and special events at La Maison Française. Created in 1957, La Maison Française is the public face of NYU’s Center for French Civilization and Culture.